Lighter actuating mechanism



rll

. INVENTOR.

W. l. NISSEN LIGHTER ACTUATING MECHANISM Filed Nov. 23, 1948 June 12, 1951 Patented June l2, 1951 UNITED STATES eATsnT orrice LIGHTER ACTUATING MECHANISM Warren I. Nissen, Newark, N. 1., assignor to Ronson Art Metal Works, Inc., Newark, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application November 23, 1948, Serial No. 61,621

1 Claim.

The invention relates to cigar lighters of the pyrophoric type, wherein the sparking wheel is actuated by a fingerpiece to project sparks toward a wick or burner when the fingerpiece moves in one direction, the sparking wheel being released from driving connection with the fingerpiece when the latter moves in the reverse direction back to its initial position. In lighters of the above type it has been customary toconnect the sparking wheel to the fingerpiece through a pawl and ratchet mechanism, various forms of which have been used for such purposes. These mechanisms however are somewhat prone to injury and wear, and it frequently happens that the driving mechanism which turns the sparkin wheel angularly during the spark producing movement will rotate through a substantial angle before the pawl and ratchet mechanism starts to turn the wheel to produce sparks, which may result indeficient spark production. The invention aims primarily to provide a lighter actuating mechanism which ;will largely.elimi hate the above objections; further objects and advantages of the invention will be in part obvious and in part specifically referred to in the description hereinafter contained which, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, shows a preferred form of lighter actuating mechanism constructed to operate in accordance with the invention; the disclosure however should be considered as merely illustrative of the invention in its broader aspects.

In the drawings- Fig. 1 is a side elevation, with certain parts cut away of a cigar lighter having an actuating mechanism constructed to operate in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 2 is a section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows.

The invention is illustrated 'in Figs. 1 and 2 as applied to a pocket lighter of the pyrophoric type having a fuel casing I, upon which is mounted wick support or burner 2, a snuffer cap 3, fingerpiece 4, and a sparking wheel 5, the fingerpiece being urged toward its idle upper position as shown in Fig. 1, by a spring 6 as indicated in Fig. l. A flint I is shown as pressed into engagement with the surface of sparking wheel 5, by a spring 8. In the illustrated form of lighter the snuffer cap 3 and sparking wheel 5 are mounted for angular movement about an axle 9 which extends between ears Ill extending upwardly from the top of casing I.

When the fingerpiece 4 is manually depressed, the snufier cap 3 is tilted upwardly to expose the wick support 2, and the sparking Wheel 5- is rctated in a clockwise direction as the parts appear in Fig. l, to project sparks toward the wick support 2 and produce a flame. When pressure on fingerpiece d is released while the latter is in depressed position, the spring 6 restores the fingerpiece to its initial idle position shown in 1, the snuffer cap 3 being simultaneously closed, but the sparking Wheel 5 does not partake of this return movement. The above parts as thus far described are to be regarded as merely typical of constructions appropriate for producing and extinguishing the flame by movement of a fingerpiece or similar actuating member back and forth between the opposite limits of its stroke.

To produce the above described movements of the sparking wheel and snuffer, I have shown in 2 a driving member H which is mounted for angular movement in either direction about the axle 9 and located at one side of the sparking wheel 5, this driving member being shown as provided with teeth. I2 which mesh with teeth It on the fingerpiece A. The portion of the snuffer cap 3 which encloses the wheel 5 is positively connected to the driving member I I to turn angularl y therewith, and thus the snuffer will be moved between its open and closed positions as the fingerpiece t is moved between the opposite limits of its stroke. In the form of the invention under discussion, the portion of the snuffer cap which appears at the left of Fig. 2 is fixed to a collar I4 which is angularly movable about the axle 9 and provided with teeth I5 which engage with teeth I E on the fingerpiece which are similar to the teeth I3 previously described.

The sparking wheel 5 is shown in Fig. 2 as having a central recess I! therein, in which is received a hub I8 which is fixed to sparking wheel 5 and rotatable about the axle 9. A helical spring I9 surrounds and frictionally engages the surfaces of the adjacent portions of the driving member I I and hub I8 as shown in Fig. 2. Looking from the right hand side of Fig. 2, the helix of this spring I9 runs anti-clockwise from driving member II toward hub I8, and thus when fingerpiece 4 is depressed to turn the driving member I I in a clockwise direction, looking from the right hand side of Fig. 2, the turns of spring I9 in engagement therewith, tend to tighten or contract in diameter, causing the spring to move angularly with driving member I I. And since the turns of spring I9 which enclose hub I8 are in frictional contact with its surface, this part of the spring then immediately tightens or contracts into positive engagement with hub l8, causing the latter and sparking wheel 5 to turn angularly with driving member H and project sparks to produce a flame. With a construction of the above character it is found that the lost motion between the driving member I I and wheel 5 is much less as compared to ratchet mechanisms heretofore customarily used for such purposes, whereby the production of sparks begins earlier and the sparking wheel rotates through a wider angle. Also it should be noted that in a construction of the above character, energy is not stored in the coils of spring It? by substantially distorting them and subsequently releasing this energy to rotate the sparking wheel; the turns of the spring merely tighten or contract infinitesimally into positive gripping engagement with the driving and driven members, the power being immediately and positively transmitted by torque applied to the spring under conditions where it is positively supported against further distortion by the cylindrical parts it encloses. Thus the mechanism is longlived and not prone to wear or injury during use. After the above described spark-producing movement has been completed and pressure on fingerpiece 4 is released, the driving member H turns angularly in a counter-clockwise direction, looking from the right hand side of Fig. 2, under the action of spring 6, and as soon as this movement begins, the turns of spring I9 are immediately released from the gripping engagement above described, in other words, angular movement of the driving member in this direction untwists the spring, so to speak, from gripping engagement with hub 18, or driving member H, or both, so that hub l8 and sparking wheel 5 are held stationary by the frictional engagement of fiint I with the wheel.

At either of its end portions, a helical spring of the character above described, can be fastened to one of the driving and driven members served by the spring, as long as the remaining end portion of the spring frictionally engages the other member as previousl described when the parts are idle, but if the spring frictionally engages both members as above described and as is preferred, there is no need of fastening it to either member since it will grip both members positively during the flame producing movement, and relative angular movement as between the spring and either or both of such members can take place during the flame extinguishing movement.

While the invention has been disclosed as carried out by the above described specific construction, it should be understood that changes may be made therein without departing from the invention in its broader aspects, within the scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

A cigar lighter having a fuel casing, a sparkin wheel member rotatably mounted thereon, means for pressing a flint against said wheel, a burner adjacent said wheel, a driving member for said wheel, a burner cap connected to said driving member, means for moving said driving member angularly between positions in which said cap is respectively open and closed with respect to said burner, said wheel and driving member having alined hubs respectively fixed thereto, and disposed axially end to end in juxtaposed relation and surrounded by the peripheral portion of said wheel, a helical spring extending along both of said hubs and having turns engageable with each of said hubs, said spring being disposed in the annular space between said hubs and the peripheral portion of the wheel, the turns of said spring running in the direction which causes said turns thereof to positively engage with said hubs to rotate said wheel upon angular movement of the driving member and its hub in the direction which moves the cap from closed to open position and also causes said turns to release from such positive engagement upon angular movement of the driving member and its hub in the reverse direction which moves the cap from open to closed position.

WARREN I. NISSEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

